If you came across an error saying "Contacts has stopped," it likely denotes something went wrong with the Contacts application. As a result, the application crashes, frozen or not responding. This error has quite long been encountered by many Android phone users including those with the Galaxy Alpha. And in most cases, it's the app's cache is to blame. In this post, I've fused in some recommended solutions for this error prompt, so you might as well consider giving these a try, should you bump into this page in search for an aid to fix the same problem on your Samsung device.

Potential Solutions

There are many ways to fix this error. But the one that's found to be most helpful (other than factory reset) is to perform a wipe cache partition. Unlike a master reset, wiping cache partition will not affect personal data stored in your phone's internal storage.Here's how to wipe cache partition on your Galaxy Alpha:
1. Power off your phone.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power buttons simultaneously.
3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power button but keep pressing the Volume Up and Home buttons.
4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release both the remaining buttons.
5. From the recovery screen, press the Volume down button to scroll to and highlight 'Wipe cache partition.'
6. To select/confirm the highlight option, press the Power button.
7. Wait until the process is complete.
8. When it's all done, The 'Reboot system now' option becomes highlighted.
9. To select the highlighted option, press the Power button again.
10. Wait for your phone to reboot in normal mode.

Troubleshooting the app can also help rectify application errors including those that are associated with the Contacts application. A common workaround is to force stop the buggy app. Here's how it's done.

1. Tap Apps from the Home screen.
2. Swipe to and tap Settings.
3. Navigate to Applications section and tap Application manager.
4. Scroll to and tap Contacts app.

Tap Force Stop to force stop the application.

Tap Clear Cache to clear the app's cache.

If the Contacts has stopped error prompt is accompanied by other symptoms like freezing, crashes, or odd behavior, then you might be able to fix it by clearing the app's cache/data.
However, clearing app's data will lose all personal data stored in the application, including profiles and other contact information.

On the Galaxy Alpha, clearing Contacts app data is done through these standard steps:

1. Press the Menu button from the Home screen.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Navigate to the More tab.
4. Tap Application manager.
5. Scroll to the Downloaded or All tab.
6. Tap to select Contacts app from the list or applications.
7. Tap Clear Data and tap OK to proceed.

If all the aforementioned procedures failed to fix the problem and the Contacts has stopped error prompt persists, then you might consider performing a master reset this time. Just be sure to back up all your personal files beforehand, as they will be erased in the process.